Method to render kapok and other fibers incombustible



; entree states I PATENT @FFHQE.

RICARDO GARRERASi VAI'LS, 0F BARCELONA, SPAIN.

METHOD TO RENDER KAPOK AND OTHER FIBERS INCOMBUSTIBLE.

vented a certain new and useful Improved Method'to Render Kapok and Other Fibers Incombustible, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to a process to render kapok fibers incombustible as well as other fibers having a similar impermeable outer cuticle or envelope.

The invention has for its obj ec-t to remedy the disadvantage hitherto presented in submitting kapok to treatment to render it incombustible. Kapok fibers, as is known, has an envelope or cuticle which repels water and which hinders itspenetration into the fiber, and the methods hitherto proposed to render the fiber incombustible are inefiective by'reason of the difiiculty of penetration into the fiber of the liquids used or the treatment. i

The present invention has for its object to remove this difficulty by submitting the fiber to a treatment having for its effect to soften the envelope or covering layer of the fibers during'the application of the bath used for the purpose of rendering the fiber incombustible. This treatment has for its purpose to facilitate the penetration of the bath through the said layer or envelope, which latter returns to its original condition in which it is impenetrable to water so that thus the fiber retains this important property after it has thus been rendered incombustible in the manner described.

The process is based essentially upon the submission of kapok to one or a number of immersions in baths of liquids having for their effect to render the fiber incombustible, such for example as one or more baths of a liquid containing a solution of ammonium phosphate, or the like, and one or a number of simultaneous or successive baths or applications of alcohol or of any other bodies or composition capable of dissolving the impermeable layer or envelope covering Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July ii, 1922. 1920. SeriahN o. 385,374.

the fiber. Thus the treatment involved according to the invention comprises: first, the temporary solution or softening of the impermeable layer, cuticle or envelope of the fiber, and second the rendering of the internal part of the fiber incombustible, by

causing the baths or solutions of substances capable of rendering the fiber incombustible to penetrate the mass of the fiber while the solvent or softening action is exercised. This two-fold operation or treatment may be effected in the use of a wide variety of compositions whose character is independent of the essential feature of the invention.

The two-fold treatment of solution or softening and the rendering incombustible may be exercised in a single bath or in the employment of a number of baths, and the treatment may be applied either by simple steeping or soaking and drying by means of presses or hydro-extractors or in the employment of any other suitable apparatus or system.

I claim:

1; A process to render incombustible. kapok and other fibers having an impermeable outer cuticle or envelope, consisting cs sentially in treating the fiber with a volatile solvent of low boiling point such as alcohol and of thus rendering the outer cuticle or envelope permeable, and in also treating the fiber with a substance capable of rendering the mass of the fiber incombustible by its penetration inwardly while the said outer cuticle or envelope is in a softened and permeable state.

2. A process to render incombustible, kapok and other fibers having an impermeable outer cuticle or envelope, consisting essentially in treating the fiber with a volatile solvent of low boiling point such as alcohol and of rendering it permeable, and in also treating the fiber with ammonium phosphate which is capable of rendering the mass of the fibers incombustible by its penetration inwardly while the outer cuticle or envelope is in a softened and permeable state.

RICARDO CAR-RERAS VALLS. 

